The dance already within us takes to the stage

During her independent choreography project on the dance teacher education programme, Anna Fischler investigated how the dance that already exists within us can be used  as a choreographic practice with and for people with neurodiversities. 

Together with dancer Daniel Ennart from Mosaikteatern, and dance education students Liv Sandaker and Ellen Kastensson, Anna created a work in which artistic collaboration, pedagogy and choreography are closely interwoven.

“Practically, this has meant that our inhabitated dance, that already resides within our bodies, leads the choreographic work,” says Anna Fischler.

The graduation performance was staged at SKH at the end of May and builds on a long-standing collaboration between Anna and Daniel. They first met when Anna was working as an assistant at Daniel’s upper secondary school, and have since developed several projects together. Her collaboration with Daniel has influenced Anna’s approach to both teaching and choreography. She describes their shared dance as an artistic encounter characterised by presence, responsiveness, and constant decision-making in the moment.

“It’s important to me that our dance is perceived as artistic and of a high standard,” Anna emphasises. “We don’t dance together for educational or therapeutic reasons, but because Daniel is an incredible dancer. We work just as hard towards a performance as I would with any other professional dancers.”

During the process, the relationship between the words teaching and choreography has evolved for Anna.

“Putting the two words next to each other instead of one over the other has given me a new perspective on both teaching and dance,” she says.

The production has also held personal significance for Anna. Following a lengthy break in her studies, her journey to graduation has taken a total of twelve years.

“It felt very important to me to create a graduation performance. For me, it became a way to bring my time at SKH to a close, and to do so together with Daniel, who has been such a significant part of my studies and of why I decided to become a teacher and complete the course,” she says

About the performance and images

The graduation performance was created by Anna Fischler in collaboration with Daniel Ennart from Mosaikteatern, as well as Liv Sandaker and Ellen Kastensson from the Bachelor’s programme in Dance Pedagogy.

Light: Olle Axén
Photographers: Clara Björck and Tobias Edlund